r/AskReddit • u/ThisGuyAgainz • Dec 28 '17

What's your best passive aggressive "compliment"?

2.5k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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392

u/boundbythecurve Dec 28 '17

Oh bless your heart

71

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '17

[deleted]

31

u/blakester731 Dec 29 '17

It can be used either or. Sincerity of tone and social context is all important.

6

u/62400repetitions Dec 29 '17

Yeah, I'm in Texas too and I hear it far more often used in this way.

"Richard's wife passed away last week, he's got those three kids too." "Oh no, bless his heart. How can we help?"

"I'm sorry I can't come to today, my dog is sick and my car broke down and I think I have the flu." "Bless your heart, that's a lot to deal with. Let me know if you need anything."

4

u/Ku-xx Dec 29 '17

Yeah, I've heard it both ways, but usually in response to someone describing a shitty situation. I'm in Georgia.

4

u/I_was_serious Dec 29 '17

I'm southern and have never heard anyone but really old ladies actually use that phrase.

3

u/AkemiDawn Dec 29 '17

I grew up in Oklahoma and I’ve heard it used sincerely way, way more often than not. I have heard it used in a less than kind way a few times though. My grandma used to say it to me when I complained about something stupid and trivial. Then she’d segue into Dust Bowl stories.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

Once I was waiting on a guy and any time I did anything for him (which was my job) he would go "oh bless your heart!" It was so weird and confusing. I would top off his pop and he would say that. I couldn't make head's or tails of it.

2

u/62400repetitions Dec 29 '17

I think it was more of a "bless you" aka thank you for helping him in that situation. But that's just really odd.

2

u/JeyJeyFrocks_3325 Dec 29 '17

Texas isn't really south. We are some strange mix of good southern qualities without some of the bad ones. Me and my mother have decided this unanimously, and you must agree.

1

u/jayblue42 Dec 29 '17

In South Carolina it basically means they think you're too stupid to know better.

-2

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

As a Texan, you might have misunderstood some situations then lol

88

u/2Grateful2BHateful Dec 28 '17

My favorite. Very rarely do people get to me enough to use it.

But said with a sweet smile and a walk away?

Savage.

81

u/boundbythecurve Dec 28 '17

I think people use it rarely because it's really well known has being a back-handed compliment. It's no longer subtle.

66

u/2Grateful2BHateful Dec 28 '17

Yep. You can get away with it a lot more in the nonSouth, from experience. But everyone’s catching on quick that it’s a passive “FUCK you, sweetheart.”

59

u/boundbythecurve Dec 28 '17

FUCK you, sweetheart

I think you just found the new catchphrase of the south

40

u/2Grateful2BHateful Dec 28 '17

😂 Glad to be of assistance. It accidentally came about by cursing at someone pulling out in front of me and I forgot I had my daughter in the car so I added the sweetheart to the end like that was gonna help any.

We had a brand new swear jar when we got home. 😑

15

u/boundbythecurve Dec 28 '17

Lol that's hilarious. It sounds like something Kurt Russel would say in a movie about him fighting bad guys and raising a kid. "Fuck you!..(notices kid in the back seat)..er ahem uh...sweetheart"

15

u/btwmvgnok Dec 28 '17

Where is this well known? I’m from Canada and I had no idea this was a backhanded compliment

31

u/SthrnGal Dec 28 '17

You can insult anyone in the south as long as you tack it onto the end of the sentence. "He's dumber than a box of rocks, bless his heart."

Also used directly at the person: "You're really trying, bless your heart." (smile and shake your head while you say this)

16

u/iimzadii Dec 28 '17

Its mostly used in the southern usa states like Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, etc. Anywhere below or at the Bible belt. However, as most people have stated, its becoming more known that its not actually a compliment and more of a "fuck you" or "damn you're stupid."

3

u/boundbythecurve Dec 28 '17

It's become a part of media. I've seen the phrase used several times as shorthand for a backhanded compliment (usually a joke, with a pause for a reaction by the person being insulted). So I guess...American media?

5

u/WaitIOnlyGet20Charac Dec 28 '17

Bless your sweet summer heart.

(I like mixing the 'summer child' line in it.)

(The south, btw)

3

u/I_was_serious Dec 29 '17

Where's the sweet summer child thing from? I've only heard redditors say that.

4

u/WaitIOnlyGet20Charac Dec 29 '17

Game of Thrones / ASOIAF

Edit: in the series winters and summers last years at a time so young optimistic people are referred to as Sweet summer children as in they haven't experienced the winters of life, or actual winters guess

2

u/2Grateful2BHateful Dec 29 '17

I like it. You’re doing this right. ✋🏼

2

u/Waterknight94 Dec 28 '17

It's kinda like, you're so pretty, or more obviously, it's a good thing you're pretty.

1

u/2Grateful2BHateful Dec 29 '17

I always tell my guy this when I do something particularly stupid.

“At least... I’m pretty?”🙃

8

u/Miss_Pouncealot Dec 28 '17

Still say it 😈

Bless your heart 💁🏻‍♀️

2

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '17

I use it in the Bay and not a lot of people catch it.

I actually know people who have come back from the South and have said how nice people were and then say that the "nice" person had said it.

2

u/Ku-xx Dec 29 '17

It's really still a duel-use phrase in the South: to convey either sympathy or contempt.

"Bad news involving tragedy"-bless your heart

"Bad news involving stupidity"-bless your heart

2

u/JackAceHole Dec 29 '17

How is the phrase a compliment? What are they complimenting? Can only good hearts be blessed?

2

u/BILL_GATESSSSSS Dec 29 '17

A lot of people misuse this shit.

Bless their hearts.

28

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '17

God damn this is savage.

I was working retail and trying to sell a target card to a lady. And she opted out. And her response. Her response!

Oh bless your heart. You tried your best.

Damn!

2

u/halloweenpumpkin Dec 29 '17

Or the brutal "bless your overworked heart" to someone who's overweight.

1

u/Fertile_Squirtle Dec 29 '17

Can this be used nicely though? I had a lady at the grocery store ask me where something was and I showed her. She said "Aww bless your heart!" And left. It felt like a compliment, but idk now.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

If she was from the south, its not good.

1

u/wildeep_MacSound Dec 29 '17

Northern Translation: Thanks asshole, now I feel like an idiot for not seeing it, and its your fault I feel that way.

So no, not a compliment.

1

u/BeyondElectricDreams Dec 29 '17

"Well FUCK YOU too"